Curriculum for excellence

Curriculum for Excellence

The purpose of the programme is to improve the learning, attainment and achievement of children and young people in Scotland. It is also about ensuring that pupils achieve on a broad front, not just in terms of examinations. It is important to ensure that children and young people are acquiring the full range of skills and abilities relevant to growing, living and working in the contemporary world. Curriculum for Excellence aims to ensure that they will enjoy greater choice and opportunity to help realise their individual talents.

The purposes of the curriculum are to provide the structure and support in learning which will enable them to develop these four capacities-

Young children learn in a variety of ways. We provide opportunities for children to explore, observe, listen and talk, respond, think and experiment. Play is an important way of developing these activities. Play is the way in which young children make sense of the world. It allows them to express ideas and feelings in many different ways, to act out and come to terms with their previous experiences, and to experiment with new ideas without fear of failure.

We encourage the children to plan their own learning, offering resources, space and time for them to do this. There is an ethos of praise and pride in achievements whether a new skill is learnt or a construction model is built. We encourage an 'I can' attitude in our children and staff.

Planning

Our planning builds on the experiences the children bring to nursery, We aim to provide activities which will extend and expand children’s knowledge and skills. Our planning is flexible in order to address individual needs and interests. Children are consulted in their learning, sharing ideas and knowledge. Our learning walls (located in the cloakroom) display examples of children's learning and are updated regularly as we work our way throughout each topic termly.

The School/Nursery Strategic Plan sets out targets for the school year. This allows staff to review and evaluate practices, strategies for learning, relationships with other agencies and resources. Target areas chosen reflect council and national priorities. Parents wishing more information should ask the Head Teacher.

Assessment

Assessment is a continuous process. Staff members observe the children at play, socialising and working with adults and other children. This allows us to assess the child’s development and plan for the "next stage". The children also have a part to play in their assessment - we encourage them to discuss their own performance in whatever tasks they are doing. .

Supporting Children

If staff feel a child is in need of help in order to achieve his/her full potential, this will be discussed with all staff and then the parents and a strategy for dealing with this will be worked on. Staff will monitor the progress regularly and continually adapt the programme of activities to meet the needs of the child. Some children may need more support to reach their potential and we have a wide network of specialist agencies including Speech and Language Therapy that we work with closely. Parents will be consulted before any agencies become involved with their child.